As they say, pride comes before a fall. Kanye is feeling himself too much and decided he was going to try to make some art, and art it may be, but its too abstract to actually listen to and enjoy. I wanted to like it but damn.. I just don't understand where all these 4-5 stars reviews are coming from.

I just don't understand where all these 4-5 stars reviews are coming from.

I imagine artists who make abstract art and the people who support them rate quality on a scale of how abstract the art is. Think of it like how people who consider themselves "comedy connoisseurs" prefer smart comedy where the joke will go over most people's heads, but they will understand the joke. There's a sort of satisfaction in being able to enjoy something that others might hardly even understand, and it's rather difficult to cater to this audience.

Especially in a genre where "art" is... rare. On that same note, the rarity may actually lower the standards of people searching for the abstract in the rap genre, but that's a whole other topic.

Lol at the tl;dr. Thanks for giving me that perspective though. I mean the whole album isn't complete shovelware: Black skinheads and new slaves were decent. But he was almost completely hypocritical with his disses to commercialism and most of the "artistic" beats were kind of bland. I'm guessing everyone is covered by the hype shades.

Yeezus to me sounds like 808s got extremely pissed off. The production is hard to classify as good or bad, because I think some of that was intentional. I think every track is gold...but a little fool's gold and cubic zirconium is mixed in as well. Its Kanye West...but...it feels like he started going east too. I still enjoy it just as much as his other albums though.

I'd like to think it's a 'clothes of the emperor' deal. None of these critics wanna be caught not understanding his 'genius'. They're scared of criticizing him, in case everyone decides later on that it was ahead of it's time.

It's good, and here's why: it's production level is AMAZING. It's Kanye saying "fuck you, I can rap about what I want when I want, and still SOUND good." It accomplishes what it's supposed to, just like The Avengers or any other action movie. No one is saying it's phenomenal, but it CERTAINLY is a good album. Also, you're taking the album WAY to seriously. "Im a God" for example, is basically Kanye hyping himself AND making fun of himself. He realizes this album isn't the best, and he still doesn't care. THAT is why it's good- b/c he embrases it for what it is.

To me, music is good if it sounds good, overall. It doesn't sound very good to me overall. I'm gonna listen again to be sure. It's music, so it needs to be jamming. It doesn't move me like that right now. Not garbage, but not good either, at least to my ears.

Sure. Or maybe, you know, they just genuinely enjoyed the album? I've read some of the reviews, and these people seem to justify their praise pretty convincingly. Why would you assume that they're just trying to adhere to a particular consensus? Polarizing albums come out all the time; it's not like critics are afraid to disagree with each other

Honestly, because I find his album really fucking offensive. Not like 'i'm hurt' offensive. but offensive to my ears. like swearing in the 19th century.

I've been listening to some really wicked shit lately. harry fraud with action bronson, that album had some nasty cuts. The latest Statik Selektah album was fucking dope. I also been listening to the rolling stones, because whatever they're sick. anyway, point is, all of a sudden i hear that shit yeezy put out.

Nah man, this album is Kanye's bachelor party. The dark and grimy sound is a reflection of the angst Kanye feels about falling in love again and having a baby. Despite his stage persona, Kanye has always been a one girl kind of guy. A lot of his relationships have fallen apart, and his celebrity contributed to that. He mentions his relationships in chronological order as he moves through the album, and airs his feelings about how they failed. The final song, Bound 2, has an uplifting and happy feeling. It's about Kim and how he's allowing himself to fall in love, but he had to live through all of that angst before he's able to let himself love Kim.

Blood on the Leaves is the culmination of his frustration. He talks about the exciting beginnings of a relationship with a woman he was in love with before his rap career took off. She tells Kanye that she loved him, but Kanye's rapid rise to fame poisoned their relationship. Their love didn't grow as it should have, and Kanye initially blamed this on his success. However, on this track he raps about how this woman was more infatuated with the limelight than with Kanye West as a human being. She betrayed 'Ye by talking to the media about their relationship. Kanye developed a fear of intimacy, believing that he had to sacrifice love for the rap game. In the last verse of the song, he realizes that this woman was a second-string bitch, just looking to capitalize on his fame, and that there were people out there who wouldn't use him like that.

I just don't understand where all these 4-5 stars reviews are coming from.

They're coming from the people who are sick of the bull shit that hip hop has been putting out for the last 10 years. It's refreshing to hear new sound and not the usual "fuck yo bitch, swag" stuff. Everyone wants to be trap, people need to cut that shit out.

New sound?? Just because Kanye is taking "brostep" or whatever you want to call it, and mixing it with rap does not make it "new". That sound has been around for years, and now its trendy, so he's making an album out of it. Same shit that happened when auto tune was trendy and he made 808's.

And only "fuck yo bitch, swag" stuff has come out in the last 10 years?? What about Lupe Fiasco, J Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Kid Cudi, Saigon, etc....and their lyrics are WAY more intelligent than Kanye's.

It's clear you're butthurt over Yeezus or Kanye in general. I never said it was a new genre, or a new movement. All I said was it's a new sound (which for Kanye, it is a new sound). When people make a certain type of music and branch out to find a new sound for themselves it's extremely refreshing. As for being trendy, I would argue. If it were trendy, you'd hear similar music on the radio or in stores or in commercials. It's no-where near dubstep so that shows how much you truly know your sub-genre's.

As for the intelligent lyrics, I never mentioned that and I understand you want another reason to bash Kanye, which is fine if it helps you sleep at night. J Cole and Kendrick lamar are prime examples of what hip hop should be, though. True Emcees. There's isn't a lot of that anymore. I'll put it in the words of Kanye West "I always said that if I'd rap I'd say something significant, but now I'm rappn' about money, hoes, and rims again. And it's all about the benjamins, big face, hundreds or whatever other synonyms." He's just selling music, that's what they all do unfortunately. Rapping is just a job for most artists, but it's a true passion for few of em. All I'm saying, is that hip hop needs to cut out this trap ass shit everyone's trying to do. Hip hop is a young genre that's been around for only 30 odd years, and the style has changed a few times and I think it's safe to say that it's not at it's best right now.

...The man is a grown ass man ...He can do whatever he wants, look at 808's shit. That was completely different but it was just another way of showing the world of what he can do. Kudos to Yeezy ....FUCK'EM

Born Sinner is better, but not that much better. It's pretty crazy that Kanye can rap about basically nothing, make it sound phenomenal, and still rival J. Cole at his best. Honestly, it says a lot more about how great Kanye is.